Paul to Public Service Ombudsman Watchers, 30th April 2008
The bizarre lengths the LGO will go to in turning down valid complaints is well known. What isn't so well known is the bizarre consequences of LGO supporting valid complaints and finding maladministration. Take the case of the Anglesey motor racing track within the designated AONB. Here maladministration was coolly and expertly exposed - a local council planning decision was clearly identified as being in breach of statutory duty, but the net result of the report was that (apart from one complainant receiving token financial compensation) the maladministration of the flawed planning decision was allowed to stand. An illegal motor racing track was then further set in concrete with the aid of huge EEC grant money. After the 1998 report was issued the then Welsh Ombudsman, Elwyn Moseley, slammed the door shut and permitted no further discussion of the matter. Is this what RHS Crossman and others had in mind when they promoted the idea of an Ombudsman to remedy injustice and to act as a disincentive to official misconduct?
Regards Paul